A Meditation Pavilion will be made from the entire front of the airplane at 28 feet in diameter and 45 feet tall; the cockpit windows will form a skylight.

Over time David Hertz and his team at Studio of Environmental Architects will be making use of the whole 747 plane including the wings, the fuselage, and cockpit to build not only the main house, but also guest quarters, a meditation pavilion, a barn and an art studio. The 747 Wing House, the main residence, was the first to be completed. Inspiration for using the metal behemoth came from the property itself, which was formerly owned by costume designer Tony Duquette, who built more than 20 structures from found objects on the 55-acre property.

The new owner commissioned David Hertz to build a home with curvilinear/feminine shapes and while Hertz was exploring roof ideas he came upon the idea to use an old airplane wing. This adaptive reuse concept fits perfectly in line with the previous owner’s found object philosophy and many of the existing site pads and retaining walls are being reused to minimize site impacts. Costing less than $50,000 the reclaimed plane has been dismantled and transported to the site, where almost all of the parts have been reused as a way of being economical. Prefabricated parts were also utilized to minimize onsite construction costs.

Besides the extensive use of reclaimed materials, the Wing House also employs solar power, radiant heating, natural ventilation and high performance heat mirror glazing. With views of the Malibu mountains, the Pacific Ocean and the islands in the distance, the 747 Wing House is a sight to behold. Located on a ridge, evening views of the home at sunset recall the same sort of view that one would see while flying in a plane as the sun goes down.

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2 Comments

trainloverJuly 9, 2011 at 4:43 pm

Totally sustainable. I think if more Americans lived in 55 acre properties there would be less homeless people, less crime, more endangered species, all good things. Where is the banner that reads ‘mission accomplished’?

gregbJune 17, 2011 at 1:45 pm

Words matter. The four “R”s (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Re-purpose) are a great, simple guide to going green. But often these words are used inappropriately, and we miss chances to education the public.